New twist emerges to the battle over Sai Baba's riches after 45-year-old document is revealed

In the middle of a battle for the rights to Satya Sai Baba's multi-crore empire, a 45-year-old document has surfaced in which he had claimed that he had no personal right to his properties.

The document, e-mailed to the media by Sai Baba's personal attendant Satyajit late on Sunday evening, was made on a stamp paper in Mumbai (then Bombay) and signed by Satya Sai and attested by Indu Lal Shah, a noted chartered accountant from Mumbai.

Shah is still a member of the Sri Satya Sai Central Trust and the sole surviving witness to the original document.

A document has surfaced in which Sai Baba had claimed he had no personal right to his properties

The document, which has come to light nearly 18 months after Sai Baba's death, exposes the internal wrangling in the trust which manages the affairs of Prashanti Nilayam, the home of Sai Baba at Puttaparthi in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh.

There have been reports that Sai Baba's nephew R.J. Ratnakar Raju is trying to gain control over the trust, whose movable and immovable properties are worth thousands of crores.

This has led to a conflict between him and the other trust members. On Monday, Ratnakar said he was not aware of the existence of any such 'document of declaration'. 'You should ask Satyajit as to why he has not disclosed the document since the demise of Sai Baba in April, 2011.

In any case, I don't think there is any significance to this document, which has not been registered anywhere. However, we are forced to believe the document because it was signed by Sai Baba himself,' Ratnakar said.

According to the document, a copy of which is available with Mail Today, Sai Baba declared that he had decided to dedicate his life to spreading sanatana dharma (eternal law). 'I am unmarried and left my parents at the age of 12 and have taken up religious order and I have no worldly or family attachments. I declare that I left my parents permanently and adopted the holy order with no intention to revert,' Sai Baba said.

Police
stand guard
to the Sathya
Sai Baba
Ashram
in the
village of
Puttaparthi in
Andhra
Pradesh

He further said that he had relinquished his rights in family property, movable or immovable, and did not own and possess personal property or wealth or estate. 'Whatever is given to me is under my management, supervision and control as a trustee to be used for public charitable purposes. This declaration I am making so that nobody can claim, under or through me, in the family properties if any,' he said in the declaration.

Satyajit said he had come to know of the document for the first time in 1998, when Sai Baba had appointed many of his trustees and was directly guiding the procedures and updating the finances and accounts.

'When we brought to his notice this document of declaration signed by him and sought his instructions as to what to do with it, he told me not to bring it to the office and keep it safely since it will be useful later on. And I kept it in safe custody as per his divine instructions,' Satyajit said.

After Sai Baba died, Satyajit said he wanted to bring the document to light but for doing that he had to get it attested by Shah.

'On November 21, 2011, we called a notary to Prashanti Nilayam and got the document attested by Shah in the presence of two witnesses, Dr Naren Ramji, registrar of Sri Satya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, and Sanjay Sahani, the director of the institute's Brindavan campus.

The document was tabled at the trust board meeting on July 1, 2012, and brought up for discussion,' Satyajit stated. But he did not explain as to why he had to wait till November 2011 to disclose the document, more than six months after Sai Baba's death.

Inquiries revealed that for the last one year, there had been a cold war going on between Ratnakar and other members of the Sri Satya Sai Central Trust over the management of the trust properties.

There were allegations that the former was staking claim on lands and other properties owned by the trust and that he had encouraged real estate activity in and around Puttaparthi.